2025-26 Syracuse Men’s Basketball Preview
Orange fans are starving for an NCAA Tournament berth. 2021 was the last. Plenty of new faces yet again in this portal and NIL era, but it could very well be Red Autry’s return players who make the biggest difference if SU is to dance again. Let’s preview the season.
Schedule:
Syracuse plays a very challenging out of conference schedule and then the usual ACC gauntlet. Houston and Kansas highlight things in Vegas and Tennessee at the Dome. The good part about this is bulking up your resume with huge wins. If you don’t beat anybody, well, it helps nothing.
Team DNA Changes:
This team should be faster, more athletic, deeper and better on defense. There are way more pieces than last year across the board for Autry to play with at both ends of the floor. They filled a ton of holes at several positions and where they were weak the Orange could be potentially strong. This will be important in the always physical and challenging ACC.
Transfer Portal Newcomers/Former Places/Potential:
Naithan George-Georgia Tech. Simply put, the top guard in the transfer portal. He is quick, can score, can set up and takes a ton of pressure off of J.J. Starling at the top. He also knows the conference inside and out. He should be a smooth operator running the Orange offense and Autry will love this addition.
Nate Kingz-Oregon State. Big time shooter and off-ball threat. He can handle the rock, but he should be able to stretch opposing defenses and give SU a real shooting threat. He connected on 44.6% from 3 balls last year at OSU.
William Kyle-UCLA. From South Dakota State to UCLA to Syracuse, Kyle could be a big time player on The Hill. Great range, awesome athleticism and smarts for the game. He averaged under 10 minutes at UCLA after a ton of time at SDST. He expects to play for the Orange and will quite a bit. SU’s rotation at center starts with Kyle, a dunk monster.
Ibrahim Souare-Georgia Tech. Rotational center piece behind Kyle. Expect 10-15 minutes per game as the season goes on. The Orange needs solid defense, rebounding and smarts down low from the former Yellow Jacket who knows the ACC well.
X-Factor:
Forward Donnie Freeman. Freeman looked at all of his options (portal-pros-etc.) and chose to return to SU after having right foot surgery in February as he missed the final nine games of the ‘Cuse campaign. He has a pro body and a pro skill set. It’s unfortunate that he has had to battle injury, but all signs point toward him being good to go. He checks all the boxes. Long and lean, he can score and rebound and has sky high talent, which is where college basketball starts and ends. The Orange also needs improved defense on this team overall, and Freeman has to be a part of that as well.
Bottom Line:
Syracuse has one goal. Make the NCAA Tournament and then see how the cookie crumbles. The Orange hasn’t made the field since 2021, a Sweet 16 added to the program’s resume. The talent is there. The returning players are there. The depth is there. The improvements are there on paper as far as shooting and defense and speed and athleticism. And you add some freshmen talent with a famous last name in hopes of keeping them around in this circus of college athletics we live in.
The pressure is on for Adrian Autry and company. All these consecutive years without a tournament berth is like Central New York with mild winters and no taxes.
It’s Big Dance or bust. 
Mike Lindsley has been in sports media for almost 30 years. Subscribe to his YouTube channel @mlsportsplatter and subscribe to his audio podcast ML Sports Platter on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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